The last day
by madeinfrance
Summary: "His thumb traces circles on her joined hands, and as the tears start flooding again, Lidia turns her entire body towards him, her face buried in his neck and, as his arms close around her, she breaks down." Lidia x Francisco, missing scenes from 4.08.
1. Chapter 1

Everything's a blur.

One moment, she can feel Marga's tears against her skin, meeting hers. The next, she's being pulled on her feet, somehow gently dragged away with soft words she can't make out.

Her eyes don't leave Ángeles. Couldn't even if she wanted to, she thinks.

In the end, it's not her choice, anyway, because she's carried away, and Lidia is going in another direction and then doors close and it's pitch black as the car drives away, fast, so fast.

There's words, cries, the sound of tires underneath them. She can still see the blond locks and closed eyes. She sees Gemina, too, just like in her nightmares, where she can still feel the rain on her arms and the blood on her fingers, and suddenly Lidia realises she's suffocating.

She can't - she just can't breath.

She closes her eyes in the darkness, her silent panic raising at the realisation. It's too much, her fingers start trembling, but then a hand grabs them, soft, impossibly soft.

Taking both of hers gently but firmly, stilling them on her lap, and it's then that she realises the weight of his other arm around her shoulder, realises he's talking to her. Has been for a while, now.

He holds her close, so close as their bodies suffer from the broken roads, and she can barely make out Carlota and Pablo further away in the small, closed space, but his voice - his voice, she can hear now.

"It's okay," Francisco lies, his lips grazing her ear, her temple.

He covers her face with light, slow kisses, his deep voice almost soothing, in the mid of this chaos.

"I'm sorry - I'm so sorry, but it's going to be okay."

His thumb traces circles on her joined hands, and as the tears start flooding again, Lidia turns her entire body towards him, her face buried in his neck and, as his arms close around her, she breaks down.

* * *

The sun is barely up, but she knows there's no more time already.

Her heart tightens painfully, so painfully in her chest as she looks at them for the last time, their perfect faces crumbling as they try to be strong, too.

Finally turning away from the girls - _her _girls - Lidia blindly reaches for Francisco's hand, and holds tight as they leave Madrid behind.

* * *

The road to Lisboa is long, but she doesn't sleep at all. Can't seem to close her eyes without everything she wants to forget playing before her eyes.

From time to time, his fingers reach for hers.

He keeps his eyes on the road, his support silent and comforting, and she's reminded that everything's not all bad.

* * *

"Well, someone seems to take after her mother: the girl is quite fond of him, isn't she?"

Francisco's already outside, charging Eva's luggage in the car. The smile the little devil gave him was almost brighter that the one she, her own mother, got.

Such a beautiful little traitor, she thinks.

Lidia smiles, placing a hundredth kiss on her daughter's forehead as she holds her close.

"I think so. When they met two days ago, he got the eyes and the chuckles - the whole thing."

Victoria nods, smiling as she draps Eva's coat around her small body.

Looking back at her, she places her hand on Lidia's cheek. "Take care of yourself, _cariña."_

Her eyes drift to Francisco outside, a cigarette tugged between his teeth as he helps Asunción in the car.

The older woman then takes her own cigarettes' holder from her pocket, and for some reason, puts it in Lidia's coat.

She frowns, but before she can say anything, Victoria speaks again. "For your man - it's his, after all."

She sighs, smiles. "I've always known he was the one, you know. I'm happy for you."

She looks at her, then, a million things unsaid behind her eyes. Lidia can feel her own watering as the woman gives one last kiss to her daughter, and backs away.

"You're going to be okay, Alba. You're going to be happy - and you deserve it. Now go, before you miss that damn boat."

* * *

As they board, the enormity of what's happening finally dawns on her.

The emotional rollercoaster of the last decade. The pain, the tears, the betrayals, the heartbreaks. These beautiful women that became her family, the one that left and took a piece of their hearts with her. The horror of having the two persons she loved the most in the world taking away from her, the pure, intense joy of having them back.

And now, she's leaving her country and everything behind, and moving on far, far away, just like she's been dreaming of for the past year, during the long nights she's spent at his side at the hospital, her fingers gently going back and forth in his hair.

If only the price to pay hadn't been so high.

She's exhausted.

On instinct, she reaches for him, and as he turns to look at her, the feel of his hand holding hers warm her everywhere.

Taking a deep breath, she lets him drive her forward.

* * *

"Are you okay?"

His words are so soft, she could almost miss them in the ocean wind, if he wasn't so close.

She can feel his hand on her back, the soft material of his jacket as she holds on to it, his forehead against hers. His breath tickling her face.

For the first time since Carlos' betrayal, since Ángeles' death, she feels that happiness again. The same one that broke through her entre body when she found Francisco, alive and well, in her living-room, only a few hours before.

A happiness she probably hasn't felt since she was a kid, running after a train that would lead her to another life with the love of her life, she realises.

She's exhausted, yes, she's hurt, but -

"Yes."

Looking up just enough to meet his eyes, his beautiful, deep, brown eyes she's missed for so long, Lidia kisses his nose, his cheek, the corner of his mouth.

His grip tightens around her, and she smiles. "Yes - I'm okay."


	2. Chapter 2

She doesn't knock.

As she opens the door, she figures probably she should - because well, they_ are_ on a boat full of strangers. But he doesn't seem frightened in the least. He doesn't seem surprised, either.

It crosses her mind that it probably wasn't lock for this particular reason, and the thought sends shivers down her spine.

Closing behind her, Lidia leans against the wooden door, tightening her night robe around her body. His cabin is small but cosy, just like hers. His smile is small but gentle, just like him.

Back against the cushions, his arm rests on his bended knee, an half burnt cigarette at the end. His hair's a little disheveled, she can make out his white shirt clinging to his chest, and the candle on his night table throws dancing shadows on his face.

He looks beautiful.

The simple sight of him makes her chest lighter, makes everything a little better, and she realizes she's smiling. With everything that's been going on, she hasn't even had the chance to enjoy what she's been praying for for more than a year.

_He's back._

Despite everything, Francisco's back, safe and sound and with her.

"Can't sleep?" Taken out of her reverie, Lidia snorts.

"No. It's nothing new, though, so chances are I'll eventually pass out at some point, at least."

Nodding, Francisco crashes his smoke in the ashtray.

"Well, then: you should probably get comfortable for when it comes," and, moving to make some room, he taps the space next to him. "Come here."

Lidia doesn't need to be asked twice.

As she gets under the covers, he lets her rest her head on his arm, her face close, so close to him on that small bed, and she wonders if he remembers the last time they've been together like that as clearly as she does - then, remembers that he can't.

Not just yet.

Lidia decides not to overthink and leaves no space between them, one of her legs even intertwining with his. For a second, he stiffens, but then his arms close around her, and she knows it's okay.

After a moment, her finger starts travelling on his nose, his eyebrows, his cheek, her eyes following its path. She takes her time. Because she can, because she wants to.

Because she never thought she would get to do this again.

For one year, she tought she would lost him forever, when forever was something she wanted so desperately to spend with him, and now, here they are.

It still feels unreal.

When she looks back at him, delicately brushing his soft hair from his face, her chest tightens from a million emotions. Relief, guilt, pain, hope, hapiness.

Love, mostly.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there when you woke up. And I'm sorry you had to live through all of that right after you did."

She chuckles, her throat tightening a little. "This wasn't how I planned it in my dreams, you know," and he chuckles as well. "All these nights, I used to imagine how I'd tell how much I needed you. How much I missed you. I was supposed to hold you so close, the nurse would tear me away from you...And instead, all you got was poison, a knock on the head and bullets fired at you."

He laughs lightly at that, his eyes softer than they should be.

"Well, exercise and aventure after such a long sleep was definitely the way to go, if you ask me. And as for missing my big wake up day...if what the nurse told me was true, you've been spending most of your nights at my side this year, so I guess I can let this one go."

He's joking, but then, his expression turns serious again. "I never had the chance to thank you for that, by the way," and Lidia can swear that his hold gets a little tighter at that.

Just like the traiterous thing in her chest.

"Thank you for staying. For having faith that I would wake up, and for not...leaving me alone."

There's so much behind his eyes right now, so much gratitude, so much love she's not sure she deserves. She's about to tell him that, to tell him that if anything, it was more selfish than anything else becasue on the nights she didn't come, it felt like she was going insane. Tell him that she needed to see him just so that she could breathe properly - but he's not finished.

"And I'm sorry."

The surprise makes her pause.

"Why?"

In the last two days, he saved her daughter once more, at the risk of his life. He saved Sara, because he didn't want to let her do it alone. He left everything behind to follow her to the end of the world.

Lidia can't begin to comprehend what he could possibly be sorry about, when every single time, he chose her before anything else.

He is, though, and he looks so apologetic. Francisco breaks eye contact for a second, before looking back at her, a small, sad smile on his features.

"You waited for a year, and all you got is a man that can't even remember your name."

For a second, she's too distraught to respond. She wonders if that man will ever stop putting her interests in front of his.

Sighing, Lidia lets her hand slide from the side of his face to his shirt and holds on, her eyes burning but determined.

"You did remember, Francisco. That's the first thing you remembered," she chuckles, her insides still melting at the thought. "And you know everything else will come back to you, soon - you know that."

She smiles. "I can't wait to help you with that."

"And until then, you're left with a stranger."

Lidia takes his hand from her waist, then, intertwining their fingers together, slowly, each at a time. She kisses his knuckles, once, twice before bringing their joined hands to her chest.

"You will_ never_ be a stranger. You loved me more than anyone in this world, and you're the love of my life, with or without memories - you hear me?"

Her grip tightens, and she makes sure he's looking right at her.

"I know you don't remember right now. I can't imagine how this must feel, and I'm so sorry. But, you, Francisco Gomez, have been my family ever since I met you, and that will never, ever change."

Her heart is beating so fast in her chest now, it's almost painful.

"I love you so much, I don't have the right words to tell you how. And having you back is the only thing that's keeping sane right now. I really need you to know - "

She can't finish her sentence, though, because just like that, his lips are on hers, and everything fades away.

Again, her words fail her.

This time, she doesn't mind.

She's not sure when her hands find his face, when his bring their hips even closer, when she starts to cry. All she can feel, all she's aware of is him, him everywhere, and her heart threatening to burst, and then she's laughing and he's kissing her nose, her tears, her cheeks.

Everything's a nightmare. But in that moment, everything - the year of hardship, Angeles, Carlos - everything goes away, and Lidia feel a wave of true, real hapiness wash over her.

When she opens her eyes again, Francisco is looking right at her.

"Do you realize you came back more than two days ago, and I'm only kissing you now?"

"If I realize it? Lidia, I've been wanting to do that since the moment I laid eyes on you," and her face hurts, her grin is so wide.

Laying another kiss on his lips, she takes his rebellous hair out of his face again. "Well, I guess we have all the time in the world now, haven't we?"

Chuckling, Francisco leans back in, and kisses her again, and again, and again.


End file.
